survival novels

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Dec 9, 2003
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Ok ive read Last of the Breed, World War Z, and just finished Tunnel in the sky. So what else should i look at?:D
 
The classic Alive about a bunch of soccer players crashin' in the mountains, a lot of Tom Brown's books, The Tracker and a few others I don't remember the titles to.

Frank Herberts books are all otherworldly survival novel of some type.
 
My daughter brought home a book from school named " Hatchet " about a young teen who ends up in a plane crash in the bush, it's only about 200 pages but a good read.
 
Check out Patriots Surviving the Coming Collapse, by James Wesley Rawles. Its previous version "Triple Aught" got me into prep's and survival mindset back in the mid to late 90's. Lots of good info in the book while being a good read as well IMHO.
 
My daughter brought home a book from school named " Hatchet " about a young teen who ends up in a plane crash in the bush, it's only about 200 pages but a good read.

Wonderful thread, thanks. :D

Gary Paulsen is VERY good!
Plus, an easy read.
Check out his non-fiction.

An ultimate survival story is
Nathaniel Philbrick's "In the Heart of the Sea".
The true story that the novel, Moby Dick, was taken from.

American whaling, maritime, industry, and cultural history.
Historical research writing, when done properly, is one of the most painstaking and time consuming writing techniques.
This one will stick with you...
Well done. :thumbup:
 
yeah i read hatchet a while ago- i dont really remember it being really for survival but it wasnt a bad read
 
+1 for Hatchet, loved it as a kid.

I am just about to finish a book called "Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls" by Edward Leslie. It is a collection of true stories starting in colonial times and ending in present day. Some of these stories are more incredible than any fiction. Robinson Crusoe was a wimp :jerkit:, try being marooned on a REAL desert island (nothing but sand!:eek::eek::eek:) with only a knife for SEVEN YEARS!!!!:eek:
Or waking from a coma resulting from a Grizzly attack with nothing but a straight razor and CRAWLING hundrends of miles to find the SOBs that took your gear and left you for dead:mad:.
 
When I was younger I enjoyed the "my side of the mountain" books they are akin to hatchet in readablity but I like them better.
 
Tunnel in the sky was interesting, imagine preparing to go out for a week and ending up staying for several years! I know I'd certainly pack differently if I knew I'd be staying out that long
 
Definitely Hatchet and My Side of the Mountain for "young adult" fiction. ADD's right about Paulsen's non-fiction too- very enjoyable.

Off the top of my head, On the Beach by Nevil Shute is a great, and somewhat different, sci-fi apolocalypse work. I remember really liking Lucifer's Hammer by Niven and Pournelle (?) as well.

For non-fiction, the stuff by Tom Brown can be interesting. If you can find it, No Surrender by Hiroo Onoda is interesting- a two Japanese soldiers in the Phillippines don't find out WWII has ended until thirty years later. I don't know if it's still in print- I found my copy used years ago.

Lastly, as a tremendous Cormack McCarthy fan, I have to recommend The Road as well. If you like apocalyptic stuff it is outstanding.
 
A book I never see recommended on survival forums that I think everyone is missing out on is one called The Long Walk, by Slavomir Rawicz.

It is the tru story of his escape from a Siberian prison camp with several other political prisoners, and his walk to freedom...in India.

He had a few things like a nail to make sparks with, some flour sacks...practically nothing. Most of his party died. But they walked from Siberia to India, crossing the Gobi desert and art of the Himalayas IIRC.


Truly an incredible story of survival.
 
Wolf and Iron by Gordon Dickson
Farnham's Freehold by Robert Heinlein
"They Don't Make Life Like They Used To" Short story by Alfred Bester (Hey! it's online! Hot dayum!)
The Stars MY Destination by Alfred Bester (OK, not really survival, but the first part is a good example of the will to live)
Call It Courage (children's story but I think it's good for all ages)
Survive the Savage Sea (True story, not a work of fiction) by Dougal Robertson
The Chernobyl Syndrome by Dean Ing (again, not fiction, but you might want to see his survival fiction such as The Rackham Files. In all honesty, I was unable to finish it).
 
I just read Snowfall by Mitchell Smith; its in the Wolfe and Iron post-apocalyptic survival genre. The apocalypse in this case is weather related -- a sudden ice age and reversion to primitive tools. Its pretty entertaining. BTW its a trilogy.
 
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